It’s easy to see why the Canucks miss him. Any team would love to add a physical scoring centre who plays a 200-foot game. The hatred from fans is understandable after Kesler quickly jumped off the bandwagon before the wheels fell off. He wasn’t willing to stick around like the Sedins, Alex Burrows or even Kesler’s current teammate, Kevin Bieksa.

It’s the definition of a love/hate relationship. Although it’s easy to hate Kesler, Canucks fans must appreciate the 11 years he gave to the franchise. It gets even easier to miss him while he is in the midst of a career year.

The Ducks leading scorer isn’t Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry, but Kesler. He has done everything for the Ducks this year and looks nothing like the player that many expected to decline. While Bieksa is arguably one of the least impressive Ducks right now, Kesler is their MVP.

The Canucks are in tough tonight, even against a Ducks team that played last night. The Canucks were able to beat a physical Kings team, even though Los Angeles controlled the play over the final 40 minutes. However, the Kings were unable to generate any quality scoring chances — the Ducks’ 12th ranked offence shouldn’t have the same problem.

Forwards

Defense

Alex Edler – Troy Stecher

Luca Sbisa – Chris Tanev

Nikita Tryamkin – Ben Hutton

Starting Goaltender

Ryan Miller

Game Notes

1) Despite the focus on Kesler, it will be interesting to see how he holds up on the second night of back-to-back games. Why does it matter for Kesler specifically? Head coach Randy Carlyle has been playing him a ton this season, averaging 21:41 of ice time through 37 games. Over the last five games, his ice time totals have been 24:28, 22:09, 25:00, 22:22, and 24:12 last night against Calgary.

2) When you look at the Ducks’ current lineup, they have three lines that can scare you. Rickard Rakell and Perry make up the Ducks’ “third line,” even though Rakell leads the Ducks with 15 goals. Getzlaf is on the first line averaging almost a point per game, and we’ve already covered Kesler’s fantastic season centering Anaheim’s second line.

The Canucks have tried to do the same with the Sedins, Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi, along with Brandon Sutter and Loui Eriksson, but it hasn’t had the same effect. Their top three lines lack potency compared to Anaheim’s forward group.

3) Even though the Canucks have racked up four wins in their last ten games versus Anaheim, they’ve been the inferior team. They’ve only scored 13 goals in their last 10 games versus the Ducks while averaging 21.8 shots per game.

After registering only 20 shots against the Kings, it’s hard to expect a giant offensive outburst from the Canucks. Part of their game plan has to be to shoot the puck more.

4) Brandon Montour is slated to play his second career game tonight, after getting his début against Calgary last night where he led all Ducks defencemen with a 66.7% shot-attempt differential according to Corsica, and looked solid on a pairing with Cam Fowler. He has been fantastic in his last two AHL seasons, scoring 78 points in 93 games with the San Diego Gulls.

5) Can the Canucks take advantage of playing another backup goaltender tonight? Jonathan Bernier is expected to get the start after John Gibson was in net for the Ducks’ win last night. The opposing team has routinely thrown their backup into match-ups against the offensively woeful Canucks. However, Bernier hasn’t looked good on the road this season. He has a 3.87 GAA and a .976 save percentage in 10 road games so far. Still, he has played well in four career starts versus the Canucks, winning three of those games with a 2.26 GAA and a .937 save percentage.

6) Tonight marks the 800th career game for Alex Burrows. His incredible journey to the NHL has been well documented. He didn’t crack the QMJHL until he was 19 and paid his dues toiling in the ECHL. His hard work and tenacity have been evident throughout his Canucks career.

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